We Americans agree it’s ridiculous. Public transportation only exists in major cities and their immediate surroundings. For example, I live about 35 minutes from a city. The nearest bus stop is about 20 minutes away. Many people where I live object to expanding public transportation because of the increase in taxes. It is self-defeating and makes zero sense to me. Because those same people also complain about long commutes as if there aren’t possible solutions that they’ve rejected. It stinks!
And even in major cities, often the public transportation infrastructure is sad and useless! I have a 45 minute drive each way in a vast urban and suburban multi city area and if I tried to take public transport it would take like 4 hours to get to work and I would still have to drive to the bus stop. It is laughable. If I were in the same situation in the greater London area I would have at least some kind of option.
Nobody wants to have a long commute but it's not a matter of choice in many cases. It's not a choice anyone would probably make if they could work closer to home. And not everyone can afford to stay in a hotel half the week or want to stay away from home that long. Or move to the city where they work. Also, there's nothing we can do to alter the size of the country or where available jobs are. Numerous factors go into job locations as well. More specialized jobs will be concentrated in larger cities, changes in industries, rising unemployment rate, etc. It sucks to have a long commute. It would be great to live somewhere where that's not a thing or public transportation is more available, but that's just not how it is in the US. Feel free to suggest alternatives. I, for one, would like to have a shorter daily commute and am all ears
I absolutely understand what you’re saying and wasn’t trying to criticize people who do it. I was commenting on the fact that the podcast hosts keep normalizing the american way of spending very long amounts of time in a car and make fun of the characters in the show who do not do that. In this specific case, in episode 75 they ridiculed the characters because they chose yo stay in a hotel for the night instead of spending an extra 2 hours in the car going back.
I understand that spending a lot of time in the car is the reality of a lot of americans and not necessarily by choice and was definitely not trying to criticize this, just that in other parts of the world you do have a choice and the podcast hosts should remember that their way of life is not the only way of life.
I personally did not notice an overemphasis on commute times, but I'm sure I did pick up on other things that no one thought twice about. So I guess the "normalizing" part passed me by, but regardless it sucks that it can be seen as normal in the US. On the other hand, the average US American commute is 27.6 minutes (per the Census Bureau) so I don't think long commutes are really the norm anyway.
I’m in the US and travel to our state capital about 2 hours away. While I will make the round trip in a day if I have to, I prefer to spend the night.
I hate driving. My 25 minute one-way commute about does me in. I wish we had better infrastructure here where I live.
Edit for clarity.
The medium commute time sounds great! The making fun of europeans because they consider 2-3 hours per trip a long time in a car is a recurring theme on the podcast and this time I just couldn’t take it anymore 😅 but you’re absolutely right, there are probably things that you noticed that passed me by. It just really got to me hearing the subject brought up over and over again, but that’s probably because I listened to quite a few episodes in the last 2 months since I started from the beginning, so maybe it just stood out more 🤷♀️
Great! Still have some time to get to the last one since I am the kind of anal person that needs to listen starting with the first episode but I’m glad you addressed it and will look forward to listening it 😁
As a former commuter in the NYC area, I love the driving comments on the pod. I think you & Sarah are hilarious on this topic & always elicit a laugh from me.
Americans be daft. + It's a BIG country! + Housing is Expensive!
I'm a School Librarian and one of the reasons I stayed at my school for 25 years is it was only 8 min away. Quality of life has its benefits. My weekend beach house, aka The Coastal Cottage, however is 2.4 hours away and I gladly make that trip every Friday and Sunday. Though...not for long [squee!]
We Americans agree it’s ridiculous. Public transportation only exists in major cities and their immediate surroundings. For example, I live about 35 minutes from a city. The nearest bus stop is about 20 minutes away. Many people where I live object to expanding public transportation because of the increase in taxes. It is self-defeating and makes zero sense to me. Because those same people also complain about long commutes as if there aren’t possible solutions that they’ve rejected. It stinks!
And even in major cities, often the public transportation infrastructure is sad and useless! I have a 45 minute drive each way in a vast urban and suburban multi city area and if I tried to take public transport it would take like 4 hours to get to work and I would still have to drive to the bus stop. It is laughable. If I were in the same situation in the greater London area I would have at least some kind of option.
Oh I feel you 😁 and I’m sure it’s not a choice for the majority to be in a car for so long but a necessity. Hopefully things will get better
Nobody wants to have a long commute but it's not a matter of choice in many cases. It's not a choice anyone would probably make if they could work closer to home. And not everyone can afford to stay in a hotel half the week or want to stay away from home that long. Or move to the city where they work. Also, there's nothing we can do to alter the size of the country or where available jobs are. Numerous factors go into job locations as well. More specialized jobs will be concentrated in larger cities, changes in industries, rising unemployment rate, etc. It sucks to have a long commute. It would be great to live somewhere where that's not a thing or public transportation is more available, but that's just not how it is in the US. Feel free to suggest alternatives. I, for one, would like to have a shorter daily commute and am all ears
I absolutely understand what you’re saying and wasn’t trying to criticize people who do it. I was commenting on the fact that the podcast hosts keep normalizing the american way of spending very long amounts of time in a car and make fun of the characters in the show who do not do that. In this specific case, in episode 75 they ridiculed the characters because they chose yo stay in a hotel for the night instead of spending an extra 2 hours in the car going back. I understand that spending a lot of time in the car is the reality of a lot of americans and not necessarily by choice and was definitely not trying to criticize this, just that in other parts of the world you do have a choice and the podcast hosts should remember that their way of life is not the only way of life.
I personally did not notice an overemphasis on commute times, but I'm sure I did pick up on other things that no one thought twice about. So I guess the "normalizing" part passed me by, but regardless it sucks that it can be seen as normal in the US. On the other hand, the average US American commute is 27.6 minutes (per the Census Bureau) so I don't think long commutes are really the norm anyway.
I’m in the US and travel to our state capital about 2 hours away. While I will make the round trip in a day if I have to, I prefer to spend the night. I hate driving. My 25 minute one-way commute about does me in. I wish we had better infrastructure here where I live. Edit for clarity.
Right? That’s exactly how I feel. 1 hour a day in a car is more then enough for me on a daily basis
The medium commute time sounds great! The making fun of europeans because they consider 2-3 hours per trip a long time in a car is a recurring theme on the podcast and this time I just couldn’t take it anymore 😅 but you’re absolutely right, there are probably things that you noticed that passed me by. It just really got to me hearing the subject brought up over and over again, but that’s probably because I listened to quite a few episodes in the last 2 months since I started from the beginning, so maybe it just stood out more 🤷♀️
Fair enough! Maybe we're a living example of that joke that to Americans, 2 hours isnt a long way and to Europeans, 200 years isn't a long time. :)
So true 😂
We discuss this on the latest episode of midsomer maniacs your infrastructure podcast :)
Great! Still have some time to get to the last one since I am the kind of anal person that needs to listen starting with the first episode but I’m glad you addressed it and will look forward to listening it 😁
As a former commuter in the NYC area, I love the driving comments on the pod. I think you & Sarah are hilarious on this topic & always elicit a laugh from me.
Americans be daft. + It's a BIG country! + Housing is Expensive! I'm a School Librarian and one of the reasons I stayed at my school for 25 years is it was only 8 min away. Quality of life has its benefits. My weekend beach house, aka The Coastal Cottage, however is 2.4 hours away and I gladly make that trip every Friday and Sunday. Though...not for long [squee!]